Heat Deformed Ps3 - Need Cooling Advice Options

[blondie85]

I recently got a YLOD PS3 off of eBay. I dismantled, cleaned and reflowed it, and now it's in good working order. However, when I took it apart I was amazed to see that the rear of the case has actually been deformed (presummably) by the heat the the unit was outputting!!

It doesn't seem to me that it gets hot enough to do this, possibly because it's now well ventilated, clean and has decent thermal paste on it, but I'm worried that once I actually start playing games heavily it will begin to get really hot and the case will become more warped. It was already quite difficult to get the case apart, if it warps more I fear it will be impossible to dismantle without breaking parts.

I don't want to get into any case mods on it, so I was wondering if anyone could recommend a good extermal cooling option? I see there are lots of USB powered external fans and ones with their own power supply, but the reviews of all of them are so mixed. Would external fans actually make a difference? Which type is best?

Sorry for the long-winded post - any advice much appreciated!

This post has been edited by blondie85: Nov 10 2010, 03:06 PM

[padraig61091]

Just out of curiosity where do u keep ur playstation? i have noticed my ps3's getting hot but never hot enough to deform the plastic... anyways i would suggest making a couple of usb powered fans and place them near the rear of the ps3 to get the hot air away from the ps3 as quick as possible
to make the fan either find a fan of a old pc or buy a pc fan (i noticed that Akasa fans run very fast from a 5 volt usb power) and find an old usb cable, then cut the top off it and connect the red and black wire to the fan black and red
i can only assume that if ur ps3 managed to deform itself u have it in a somewhat enclosed area and after it runs for a while it just starts pumping warm air in through the ps3

Ha ha just read that u got it off ebay, so u didnt do the damage.... my bad

[blondie85]

I actually emailed the guy I bought it from to ask a question about it, and asked about where he had kept it in the passing - turns out it was stuffed in a unit under the TV with very little ventilation. The poor bloke seemed a bit put out that I had it up and running again, and that I had erased all his saved data!

Thanks for the fan suggestion, I'll give it a go when I have some time. I keep my consoles behind the TV which has plenty of space behind it (it's positioned in the corner) so it has a good flow of air around it. Hopefully it'll last longer for me than the original owner!